Do you have luck with washing clothes in cold water?

[maylips]

I hear this on tons of TV shows - wash your clothes in cold water because it saves you money, helps the environment and still gets your clothes clean - but every time I do it, my clothes don't get clean. I'm talking about breastmilk spit-up that doesn't come out of cotton t-shirts, even.

What am I missing? I have a HE washer but I don't have cold-wash only detergent. Do I need that? Or do you only have luck with warm and hot water too?

[ourbabygirl]

I used to do cold water only to save energy, yada yada [and we have a(n) HE washer, too], but things just weren't getting clean enough... clothes, dish towels, bath towels, etc. were left smelling musty. So I switched to warm/ warm for lights and warm/ cold for darks and things seem better.

[TwinFoxes]

I wash pretty much everything except towels, sheets and undies in cold. I'd probably wash them in cold but it's habit not to. I don't have problems getting stuff clean, even DDs stuff that they play outside in. We use Tide Free. On grownup clothes I pretreat with oxyclean spray.

ETA: I have to admit I don't do it to be green, I was tired of stuff shrinking. I wash in cold and dry on low, and I don't have the shrinkage problem any more.

[twowhat?]

We always use cold water unless it's something really nasty (I used hot water to wash a load of dishtowels that I used to sop up spilled chicken juice, and I would use hot water for one cycle when we cloth diapered). Breastmilk spit-up needs extra help because of the high fat content. Rub a little dawn dishwashing detergent (just a TINY bit) into the spots before washing.

[SnuggleBuggles]

They sure seem fine to me. I don't have trouble with getting things clean. I washed things with breastmilk on them and the were ok. I do towels and sheets on warm or hot but everything else on cold/ cold.

Beth

[edurnemk]

I use cold for everything except whites and diapers. Whites go on warm/cold, and diapers on hot.

I also add a little baking soda or washing soda (stronger) along with the detergent, and a little vinegar in the rinse (I put it in place of the softener). My clothes always feel clean.

Now for stained clothes I soak before washing with some oxygen bleach (oxyclean), if it's really stained then pour oxyclean on the stain followed by almost boiling water.

[JBaxter]

I do everything on warm wash / cold rinse. I get greasey spots on my darks if I dont.

[SpaceGal]

I use cold all the time, we have an HE washer as well. I'm big on pre-treating and using OxyClean when needed. I usually can get all the clothes clean and we're talking nasty baby dirty things...poop, formula, food stains.

[mikeys_mom]

I use cold for everything other than really nasty stuff like poop and vomit. In those cases I use hot/cold cycle just because I feel like it is more sanitizing. I don't know if there is any truth to it but it makes me feel better.

I spray any stains with Oxyclean baby. I have a HE washer and use Tide Coldwater. I also use the Tide Stain Release liquid - pour it in along with the detergent. Everything comes out clean. No real problems with stains.

Like a PP, I don't do it for environmental reasons. I just got tired of stuff shrinking and getting discoloured.

[AnnieW625]

I wash clothes per label so if cold water is recommended that's what I do, same with warm or hot. I have been using Country Save for our clothes/cloth diapers and I think it's okay, but I know for us when I am done with it I am most likely going to go back to Cheer Free, and I am going to try something else for the cloth diapers. I also :heartbeat: Spray N Wash, and OxyClean. I'll use Oxy Clean Baby for #2.

[bubbaray]

I use hot for all bedding (I am allergic to dust mites, dr says only hot water kills them). I cold only for darks. I dunno. I've never had luck with cold for whites. Periodically use is 1/2 cold, 1/2 warm for mid-colors. Rinse cycle is always cold, though.

[mommyp]

I use cold for everything except sheets and towels. They go warm or hot with a cold rinse.

[JustMe]

I use cold for everything. It gets out most everything we need it to.

[Penny's Pappa]

We use cold/cold exclusively mostly to save hot water, and, as a PP said, to avoid shrinkage (which is one of my Top 5 Pet Peeves, btw). We use cold water, HE deteregent for our HE front-loader. Haven't noticed any real problems getting things clean.

For tougher jobs we pretreat with Stain-Stick or detergent. Seems to do the trick.

[salsah]

i only use hot for whites. some clothes need a little extra attention when washing with cold, but i would rather do a little spot treating than use hot water.

[DebbieJ]

I wash all clothes on cold and all sheets and towels on hot. I've never had a problem with things not coming clean in my HE machine.

[mommylamb]

I wash everything other than towels in cold water and I've never had a problem with them not getting clean. Then again, I no longer have a baby with spit up (but I think I was using cold only back then too).

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I wash clothes per label so if cold water is recommended that's what I do, same with warm or hot. I have been using Country Save for our clothes/cloth diapers and I think it's okay, but I know for us when I am done with it I am most likely going to go back to Cheer Free, and I am going to try something else for the cloth diapers. I also :heartbeat: Spray N Wash, and OxyClean. I'll use Oxy Clean Baby for #2.

Have you tried Biokleen? (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_kk_3?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abiokleen+laundry&keywords=biokleen+laundry&ie=UTF8&qid=1271441018) I really like it! Works better than CS did for me.

[maestramommy]

We only wash certain things in cold. Dark colors, bras, delicates. For everything else I at least start with warm wash. For dipes of course, and puked on sheets and clothes I use hot. NO WAY would I was dipes in cold.

[AnnieW625]

Have you tried Biokleen? (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_kk_3?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abiokleen+laundry&keywords=biokleen+laundry&ie=UTF8&qid=1271441018) I really like it! Works better than CS did for me.

No I haven't, but my friend in the diaper business likes that one too! Are you using Biokleen for all clothes or just the diapers? Which one are you using? Powder or liquid, scented or unscented?

[niccig]

Cold for everything. Zout spray on stains if I remember. Oxyclean gets thrown in with the detergent if I think it's particularly dirty load. Everything comes out clean. Are you putting too many clothes in so they can't move around??? My machine's full load amount is less than I thought it was.

[salsah]

Cold for everything. Zout spray on stains if I remember. Oxyclean gets thrown in with the detergent if I think it's particularly dirty load. Everything comes out clean. Are you putting too many clothes in so they can't move around??? My machine's full load amount is less than I thought it was.

yup, we do zout and oxyclean (bleach for whites). definitely not overfilling the machine makes a huge difference. i'm not saying you should wash three items at a time like my mom does . . .

[HIU8]

I do everything in cold now. However, for anything with nasty stains, I presoak in burning hot oxyclean first. So far so good. We just started doing the only cold washes and are waiting to see how much of a difference it makes for us as far as energy use. Will re-evaluate depending.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

No I haven't, but my friend in the diaper business likes that one too! Are you using Biokleen for all clothes or just the diapers? Which one are you using? Powder or liquid, scented or unscented?

I did use if for CD and loved it (DD is potty trained). So now we use that as our primary detergent, I like their "bleach", too. I use whatever is on sale. Currently using the liquid, good for 128 HE loads. Scented, a mild citrus scent, it doesn't stay on clothes.

I have tried Planet, Charlie's, CS, and like BK best.

HTH! It is on sale at my natural grocery store, so it may be on sale at other stores.

[maylips]

Cold for everything. Zout spray on stains if I remember. Oxyclean gets thrown in with the detergent if I think it's particularly dirty load. Everything comes out clean. Are you putting too many clothes in so they can't move around??? My machine's full load amount is less than I thought it was.

That may be the problem for me....that and clearly I'm not pretreating as well as everyone else seems to be. I'm kind of lazy that way - I expect my dishwasher and my washing machine to DO THE WORK for me, rather than me clean everything first so it can just spin around and pretend it's doing something. *sigh* Guess I need to be more proactive.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

That may be the problem for me....that and clearly I'm not pretreating as well as everyone else seems to be. I'm kind of lazy that way - I expect my dishwasher and my washing machine to DO THE WORK for me, rather than me clean everything first so it can just spin around and pretend it's doing something. *sigh* Guess I need to be more proactive.

Part of the stain removal is friction from other clotes, so if they can't move arounnd they don't get as clean. I am totally guilty of this too though!

[bubbaray]

I guess for me, the appeal of moving to cold water wash would be for the "green" effect -- help the environment, blah blah. But, if I have to use bleach to get the whites white, use oxyclean, etc, I don't see the "greeness" of that, KWIM? Plus, I have to be super careful what I use on the girls' clothes due to their super sensitive skin.

[salsah]

how do you get whites white if you don't use bleach and hot water?

[AnnieW625]

I did use if for CD and loved it (DD is potty trained). So now we use that as our primary detergent, I like their "bleach", too. I use whatever is on sale. Currently using the liquid, good for 128 HE loads. Scented, a mild citrus scent, it doesn't stay on clothes.

I have tried Planet, Charlie's, CS, and like BK best.

HTH! It is on sale at my natural grocery store, so it may be on sale at other stores.

Thanks! I think they have it at my local Sprouts market so I can try it then.

[ewpmsw]

I use liquid free and clear detergent and wash almost everything in cold on the express wash setting. (HE washer) The times our stuff came out stiff and detergenty, I figured I'd used too much. (Other evidence of too much in our washer: bubbly foam, musty/moldy smell.) I'll occasionally use the "whitest whites" setting (hot) on a big load of stained clothes.

[hillview]

I use the quick wash setting on the HE washer which is warm/cold. It takes 30 mins to run and using Charlie's Soap it does a great job. I swear it uses about 1/2 cup of water! I do use HOT if it is vomit or poop.
/hillary